Heel-lift for boots or shoes.



No. 698,959. Patented Apr. 29, I902.

J. J. JONES.

HEEL LIFT FOR BOOTS OB SHOES.

(Application filed Mar. 27, 1900.) (No Model.)

and Fig. 8 a longitudinal section at the line UNITED STATES SATENT OFFICE.

JACOB J. JONES, OF N.E\V YORK, N. Y.

HEEL-LIFT FOR BOOTS OR SHOES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 698,959, dated April 29, 1902.

Application filed March 27, 1900.

To all 2971 0111 it may concern:

Be it known that I, JACOB J. JONES, a citizen of the United States, residing in New York city, in the county and State of New York, have invented an Improvement in Heel-Lifts for Boots or Shoes, of which the following is a specification. n

In my application for Letters Patent filed December 8, 1899, Serial No. 739,590, I have shown and described a composite lift for boots and shoes comprising alayer of rubber having an annular marginal recess in which a horseshoe shaped piece of leather is cemented at the opposing surfaces and edges.

My present invention is an improvement upon the said device or, in other words, anaddition thereto for the purpose of providing a tread-surface to the lift which shall be in part of rubber and in part of leather or simi lar materiah In carrying out my invention the rubber layer is made with a wall completely inclosing an opening through the center and which wall is of peculiar construction, so as to receive within the same a filling-block of leather or leather composition or similar material, so that the tread-surface of the composite lift to be attached to the heel of a boot or shoe has a surface in part of rubber and in part of leather or similar material, the object being to prevent the wearer slipping upon ice or snow or slippery pavements, practice having demonstrated that the adjacent surfaces of two such materials provide a very firm footing.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a top plan view representing my improvement. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section, and Fig. 3 a cross-section, of the same. Fig. 4 is a top plan view of a modification. Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section, and Fig. 6 across-section, of the modified form shown in Fig. 4. Fig. 7 is an invert ed plan of still another form of my invention,

a: so of Fig. 7.

The rubber layer Cb is provided with an annular marginal recess 2 in the upper surface of the same, and in this the leather layer or strip 1) of horseshoe form is placed, and the same is secured to the rubber at the horizontal meeting faces and vertical meeting edges by cement and by pressure, holding the parts together until they are thoroughly dried and Serial No. 10,362. (No model.)

set. this layer or strip of leather serves for holding the nails used in the usual main row of nails in connecting the composite lift to the heel of a boot or shoe, the nails passing through the rubber and leather and the heads passing through the rubber down to the surface of the leather, the leather serving as a bearer to the heads and as a holdfast for the lift to the heel.

The rubber layer a is provided with a wall completely inclosing an open center or, in other words, is in the form of aring with a shoulder or offset at t. Within this open center and fitting the same exactly is a filling-block c. This filling-block may be made of several layers of leather, as will appear by reference to the dotted lines in the sectional views, secured together in any desired manner, or the same may be made as an entirety of a leather or similar composition, the part being molded into a block to fit the opening in the rubber layer. The surface of this filling-block c, as will appear from the drawings, is greater on the top side than on the under side, the top As stated in my aforesaid application,

side coming next to the heel of the boot or shoe, and the filling-block is to be secured to the heel of the boot or shoe, but not necessarily secured by cement to the rubber layer a. The tread-surface, however, of the rubber layer a and the filling-block c are in the same plane, so that the rubber and the leather surfaces are both presented to the surface of the pavement or ice for the purpose of preventing the wearer slipping.

It has been demonstrated in practice that rubber alone will slip upon an icy surface or a greasy surface, but not upon solely a wet surface, whereas leather is not liable to slip upon a greasy surface and only slightly upon I an icy surface, and that the action of leather and rubber combined upon an icy or greasy surface has an advantage over either.

In the modification shown in Figs. 4, 5, and

6 the fillingblock o, of leather or composition material, is shown with a peripheral rib c, fitting an internal undercut recess Sin the rubber layer. This has the advantage of more readily keeping the rubber layer and leather layer together when the parts are not connected to the heel of a boot or shoe.

In the modification shown in Figs. 7 and 8 the tread-surface of the leather filling-block instead of passing as an entirety through the rubber layer may be made with the knobs'or projections a passing through openings in the rubber tread of corresponding size, so as to produce with the rubber the aforesaid effect upon slippery surfaces.

I claim as my invention- 1. As a new article of manufacture, a composite heel-lift for boots and shoes, comprising a block or form of rubber having a continuous wall completely inclosing an open center, the inner surface of said wall being of irregular or offset outline, and a fillingblock of a material different from and of corresponding thickness with the block of rubber, the edge of the filling-block being of irregular outline and fitting the open center within the wall of the block of rubber and JACOB J. JONES.

\Vitnesses:

GEo. T. PINCKNEY, S. T. HAVILAND. 

